Low visibility body armor

ABSTRACT

A concealable armored vest is provided. The armored vest can include a ballistic insert and a contoured member that overlies the ballistic insert to obscure the outline of the ballistic insert from view. The foam insert can include tapered end portions that flatten as they extend laterally outward of the ballistic insert. The armored vest can also include a downwardly extending retention panel having a retention member to limit vertical movement of the vest. The retention panel can be tucked into a lower body garment, and the retention member can be oversized to inhibit the sliding retraction of the retention panel from the lower body garment. The retention member can include a longitudinal foam element generally parallel to the waistline and generally coextensive with the lowermost portion of the retention panel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to armored vests, and more particularly toconcealable armored vests worn under the wearer's outer garments.

Armored vests are items of personal body armor that slow or stop themovement of high velocity projectiles. These vests are commonly formedfrom a woven nylon shell including a combination of pliable ballisticpanels and rigid ballistic plates. The pliable ballistic panels includewoven or laminated high-tensile strength fibers to protect the weareragainst small caliber rounds and some forms of shrapnel andfragmentation. The rigid ballistic plates include ceramic or metalplates to provide an added degree of protection against high velocityrifle rounds and stab wounds.

In many instances, an armored vest is sized to be worn beneath an outergarment to conceal the vest from view. However, the armored vest canbecome visible through the wearer's outer garments when the vest shiftsfrom the desired position on the wearer, particularly as a result ofbending, twisting and entering and exiting vehicles. While various shirttails have been added in an attempt to retain the armored vest in thedesired position on the wearer, these shirt tails tend to slide upwardlyout of the wearer's lower body garment. In addition, the outline of theballistic plate is in many instances visible through both the outernylon shell and the wearer's outer garments.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A concealable armored vest is provided. The concealable armored vestincludes a ballistic insert and a contoured member adjacent theballistic insert to visually obscure the outline of the ballisticinsert. The concealable armored vest further includes a downwardlyextending retention panel having a retention member limiting verticalmovement of the vest while being free from attachment to a lowergarment.

In one embodiment, the contoured member includes an intermediate portionextending between left and right end portions. The intermediate portioncan be coextensive with the ballistic insert strike surface or theballistic insert rear surface, and the left and right end portions canangle rearwardly toward the wearer to conceal the periphery of theballistic insert from view. The left and right end portions can eachdefine a tapered cross-section that gradually reduces in thickness asthe end portions extend outwardly.

In another embodiment, the armored vest includes a front portion havingfirst and second spaced apart panels to define a pocket for a ballisticinsert. The contoured member can be interposed between the ballisticinsert and the first panel, and can include first and second endportions that flatten as they extend outwardly from the ballisticinsert. The pocket can define first and second transition regionsoutwardly of the ballistic insert that define a gradual reduction inpocket depth.

In still another embodiment, the armored vest can include first andsecond retention panels extending downwardly from the armored vest. Theretention panels can each include a retention member to limit verticalmovement of the armored vest when worn by a user. The retention panelcan be adapted to be tucked into a lower body garment, and the retentionmember can be oversized to inhibit the sliding retraction of theretention panel from the lower body garment. The retention member caninclude a longitudinal foam element generally parallel to the waistlineand generally coextensive with the lowermost portion of the retentionpanel.

Embodiments of the invention can therefore provide an improved armoredvest that maintains a continuous, unbroken outer surface while alsoremaining in the proper position on the wearer. The improved armoredvest can remain concealed under lighter garments by obscuring theoutline of one or more ballistic inserts. In addition, the improvedarmored vest can remain concealed by remaining in close alignment withthe wearer's torso after a wide range of upper body movements.

These and other advantages and features of the invention will be morefully understood and appreciated by reference to the description of thecurrent embodiments and the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an armored vest in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the armored vest of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a partially exploded view of a contoured member and aballistic insert according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the contoured member and the ballisticinsert of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal cross-section of the contoured member andballistic insert of FIG. 4 taken along line A-A in FIG. 4 whilepositioned within a vest pocket.

FIG. 6 is a horizontal cross-section of a first alternative contouredmember.

FIG. 7 is a horizontal cross-section of a second alternative contouredmember.

FIG. 8 is a horizontal cross-section of a third alternative contouredmember.

DESCRIPTION OF THE CURRENT EMBODIMENTS

The current embodiments relate to a concealable armored vest. In someembodiments, the armored vest includes a downwardly extending retentionpanel having a retention member to limit vertical movement of the vestwhile being free from attachment to a lower garment. In otherembodiments, the armored vest includes a contoured member adjacent aballistic insert to obscure the outline of the ballistic insert fromview.

More specifically, and with reference to FIGS. 1-8, a concealablearmored vest is generally designated 10. The armored vest 10 includes afront protective portion 12 for overlying the chest region of thewearer, a back protective portion 14 positioned rearwardly of the frontportion 12 for overlying the back region of the wearer, and left andright shoulder straps 16, 18. The left and right shoulder straps 16, 18extend over respective left and right shoulders of the wearer forattachment to the front protective portion 12. The shoulder straps 16,18 and the front and rear protective portions 12, 14 cooperativelydefine a neck opening 20 and left and right arm openings 22, 24 for thewearer. As also shown in FIGS. 1-2, the front and back protectiveportions 12, 14 include overlapping side panels 26, 28 to releasablysecure the front protective portion 12 to the back protective portion 14about the wearer's abdomen. At least one of the overlapping panels 26,28 can include hook and loop fasteners to secure the panels together ator above the wearer's hip. In some embodiments, the wearer can adjustthe shoulder straps 16, 18, and thus the size of the armholes, tomaintain the bottom edge 30 of the protective vest 10 at or above thewearer's belt.

The concealable armored vest 10 can include relatively soft or pliantbody armor, including for example a non-woven ballistic resistantmaterial, such as SPECTRA® ballistic resistant material by Honeywell ofColonial Heights, Va., or a woven ballistic resistant material, such asKEVLAR® ballistic resistant material by DuPont of Wilmington, Del. Foradded comfort, the front and back protective portions 12, 14 can includea lining material adjacent the wearer. The pliant body armor can besupplemented with one or more ballistic inserts 50 including, but notlimited to, a soft ballistic insert, such as SPECTRA® or KEVLAR®ballistic inserts, or a rigid ballistic insert formed of ceramic ormetal. The ballistic insert 50 can include chamfered corner regions 34and can be curved about a vertical axis 36 to approximate the torsocontour of the wearer. The ballistic insert 50 can be secured to thevest 10 in one or more exterior pockets 38 to permit the wearer to addor remove the ballistic insert 50 as desired. For example, one or moreballistic inserts 50 may be inserted in the front protective portion 12through a horizontal opening 40. Alternatively, the opening 40 mayinstead be positioned along a peripheral region of the front portion 12to conceal the opening 40 from view. Additional ballistic inserts may beinserted in corresponding pockets on other portions of the vest 10,including for example the back protective portion 14.

As the armored vest 10 is worn, the vest 10 will normally shift relativeto the wearer to afford the wearer a range of motion. When the wearerreturns to an upright position from a bending position or an upwardreaching motion, for example, the armored vest 10 can sit higher on thetorso, leaving the wearer's abdomen exposed to possible injury whilealso promoting the appearance of the vest 10 through the wearer'souterwear. In order to restrain upward movement of the armored vest 10relative to the wearer's waist, the vest 10 can include first and secondretention panels 42, 44 extending downwardly from respective front andback protective portions 12, 14. The retention panels 42, 44 can be sewnto the lower edge 30 of the front and back protective portions 12, 14,and can each include a retention member 46 being free from attachment toa lower body garment. The retention panels 42, 44 can be formed of anelastic fabric which can be tucked into a lower body garment. Whileshown as including a single panel, one or both of the retention panels42, 44 can include a split shirt-tail configuration, in which two ormore panels extend downwardly from the front protective portion 12and/or the back protective portion 14. The retention panels 42, 44 canbe sized to extend to just below the wearer's belt, or can extendfurther into the wearer's lower body garment as desired.

As noted above, the retention panels 42, 44 include a retention member46 being generally free from attachment to the lower body garment. Theretention member 46 can include a lightweight flexible foam elementbeing generally coextensive with the lowermost portion of thecorresponding retention panel 42, 44. The retention member 46 can besecured to the respective retention panel 42, 44 according to anysuitable method. In some embodiments the retention member 46 can beglued to the respective retention panel 42, 44, while in otherembodiments the retention member 46 can be sewed to the respectiveretention panel 42, 44. The retention member 46 can include afront-to-back thickness that is dimensioned to impede movement of theretention member 46 between the wearer's belt and the wearer's waist. Asthe wearer flexes about the waist, the retention member 46 can remainloosely anchored in the lower body garment in elastic communication withthe front and back protective portions 12, 14. As the wearer returns toan upright posture, the elastic retention members 42, 44 tend to returnthe vest 10 into close registration with the wearer's torso. Theretention panels 42, 44 can therefore assist in retaining the properprotective positions of the ballistic insert 50. The front and backretention panels 42, 44 can be tucked into the pants, or other lowerbody garment, when the vest is worn in an attempt to keep the vest inposition. When the wearer assumes a position of stretching forward orrearward, the retention panels 42, 44 similarly extend upward, but tendto pull the vest bottom edge 30 to the position nearest the waistline.The elastic retention panels 42, 44 therefore permit the vest 10 to moveaway from the waist with the body movements of the wearer, while alsoreturning the vest 10 to the desired position with respect to thewearer's waist.

Referring now to FIGS. 3-8, the ballistic insert 50 can define agenerally uniform thickness that terminates in a periphery 52. Theballistic insert 50 can be received with the aforementioned pocket 38,being generally sandwiched between spaced apart layers 54, 56 formed ofhigh tensile strength nylon, for example. The ballistic insert 50 canoverlie the above mentioned pliant body armor, which is generallydisposed rearward of the pocket 38 and the ballistic insert 50. To atleast partially conceal or obscure the outline of the ballistic insertperiphery 52 from view through the forward layer 54, the armored vest 10can include a contoured member 60, for example a foam element(s) asshown in FIGS. 3-7 or a curved stiffener as shown in FIG. 8. Theballistic insert 50 and the contoured member 60 can interlock orinterfit with each other, forming a single impact-resistant unit 70sized to be snugly received within the pocket 38.

As optionally shown in FIGS. 5-6, the contoured member 60 can include afoam panel defining an intermediate portion 62 and at least one endportion 64 outward of the intermediate portion 62. The intermediateportion 62 can define a generally uniform thickness less than thethickness of the ballistic insert 50. In addition, the intermediateportion 62 can include a continuous, unbroken outer surface beinggenerally coextensive with the ballistic insert strike face 58 as shownin FIG. 5, or being generally coextensive with the ballistic insert rearsurface 68 as shown in FIG. 6. Each end portion 64 can transition fromthe thickness of the intermediate portion 62 to a maximum thicknessbefore declining in thickness toward its lateral edge 66. In addition,each end portion 64 can angle rearwardly (or forwardly if worn on theback protective panel 14) from the forward nylon layer 54 to therearward nylon layer 56 to at least partially obscure the ballisticinsert periphery 52 from view. The combined impact resistant unit 70 cantherefore include a tapered end portion 72 for each facet of theballistic insert 50. Each tapered end portion 72 can extend laterallyoutward of the ballistic insert 50 while also transitioning rearwardlyfrom the forward nylon layer 54 to the rearward nylon layer 56. Eachtapered end portion 72 can terminate in general alignment with a planedefined by the rear-facing surface 68 of the ballistic insert 50. Inthis aspect, the impact resistant unit 70 occupies the space formed bythe first and second spaced apart nylon layers 54, 56—including regionsof reduced pocket depth laterally outward of the ballistic insert 50—toprovide a continuous, unbroken outer surface immediately rearward of theforwardmost nylon layer 54. Optionally, the foam end portions 64 extenda distance of at least twenty percent of the side-to-side width of theballistic insert 50, while in other embodiments the end portions 64extend outward to a greater or lesser extent.

While left and right peripheral portions of the ballistic insert 50 areshown as being obscured by the contoured member 60, it should be notedthat the contoured member 60 can extend entirely around the ballisticinsert periphery to obscure or conceal substantially the entire outlineof the ballistic insert 50 from view. The contoured member 60 can beformed of a low-density closed cellular foam, for example polyurethanefoam, and the contoured member 60 and the ballistic insert 50 can bebonded to each other or held in position by the nylon shell pocket 38.The contoured member 60 can in some embodiments be free of anintermediate portion 62, and can include spaced apart end portions 64 asgenerally illustrated in FIG. 7. In this configuration, each end portion64 can transition from a first thickness approximately equal to theballistic insert thickness to a second thickness less than a firstthickness. More specifically, each end portion 64 can generally flattenas it extends laterally outward of the ballistic insert 50 to concealthe periphery of the ballistic insert 52 from view. In addition, eachend portion 64 can angle rearwardly from the forward nylon layer 54 tothe rearward nylon layer 56 and at least partially occupy the portion ofthe pocket 38 laterally outward of the ballistic insert 50.

While described above as being formed of a foam material, the contouredmember 60 can alternatively be formed from a low-density plastic orother generally rigid material. As shown in FIG. 8 for example, thecontoured member 60 includes a curved stiffener 80 formed of a one piecelow-density plastic and extending laterally outward of the ballisticinsert 50. The curved stiffener 80 is bowed rearwardly about a verticalaxis while also optionally terminating at the rearward nylon layer 56.In addition, the curved stiffener 80 can include a uniform thickness asshown in FIG. 8, while in other embodiments the curved stiffener 80includes a varying cross-sectional width as it extends laterallyoutward. The curved stiffener 80 is shown as being positioned within thepocket 38, generally bearing against the ballistic insert strike face58, while in other embodiments the curved stiffener 80 is spaced apartfrom the strike face 58, optionally forming a non-removable part of thepocket 38 or vest 10. In the illustrated embodiment the curved stiffener80 is formed of a one piece low-density plastic, while in otherembodiments the curved stiffener 80 includes a multi-componentconstruction. The curved stiffener 80 can optionally be utilized incombination with the foam insert(s) of FIGS. 3-7, or can be usedseparately as shown in FIG. 8. Though described above as including asingle impact resistant unit 70, the vest 10 may include multiple impactresistant units 70 at various locations on the vest 10. In addition,while the armored vest 10 is generally described as being concealable,the armored vest 10 may also be worn on the outside of a wearer'sclothing if desired.

The above descriptions are those of the current embodiments of theinvention. Various alterations and changes can be made without departingfrom the spirit and broader aspects of the invention as defined in theappended claims, which are to be interpreted in accordance with theprinciples of patent law including the doctrine of equivalents. Anyreference to elements in the singular, for example, using the articles“a,” “an,” “the,” or “said,” is not to be construed as limiting theelement to the singular.

1. An armored vest comprising: front and back protective portionsdefining a neck opening; a retention panel extending downwardly from oneof the front and back portions; a ballistic insert supported by one ofthe front and back protective portions, the ballistic insert defining astrike face terminating in a lateral periphery; and a contoured memberadjacent the ballistic insert and transitioning rearwardly from thestrike face to at least partially obscure the ballistic insert peripheryfrom view.
 2. The armored vest of claim 1 wherein the retention panelincludes an elastic material.
 3. The armored vest of claim 1 wherein theretention panel includes a retention member to limit vertical movementof the vest while being free from attachment to a lower garment.
 4. Thearmored vest of claim 3 wherein the retention member includes alongitudinal foam element extending generally parallel to a wearer'swaist.
 5. The armored vest of claim 1 wherein the contoured memberincludes a curved stiffener extending laterally outward of the ballisticinsert.
 6. The armored vest of claim 1 wherein one of the front and backprotective portions includes first and second spaced apart panelsdefining a pocket to supportably receive the ballistic insert and thecontoured member.
 7. The armored vest of claim 6 wherein the pocketdefines first and second transition regions outward of the ballisticinsert, the first and second transition regions defining a gradualreduction in pocket depth.
 8. The armored vest of claim 7 wherein thecontoured member at least partially occupies the first and secondtransition regions and flattens as it extends laterally outward.
 9. Anarmored vest comprising: front and back portions, at least one of thefront and back portions including a ballistic material capable ofimpeding the penetration of a foreign object; and a retention panelextending downwardly from one of the front and back portions, theretention panel including a retention member limiting vertical movementof the vest when worn by a user while being free from attachment to alower garment.
 10. The armored vest of claim 9 wherein the retentionmember includes a longitudinal foam element extending generally parallelto a wearer's waist.
 11. The armored vest of claim 9 wherein theretention member is generally coextensive with the lowermost portion ofthe retention panel.
 12. The armored vest of claim 9 wherein theretention panel includes an elastic material.
 13. The armored vest ofclaim 9 wherein the retention panel is a first retention panel extendingdownwardly from the front portion, the armored vest further comprising asecond retention panel extending downwardly from the back portion. 14.The armored vest of claim 9 wherein the ballistic material includes atleast one of a pliant ballistic insert and a rigid ballistic insert. 15.An impact resistant unit for an armored vest comprising: a ballisticinsert defining a strike face terminating in a lateral periphery; and acontoured member adjacent the ballistic insert, the contoured membertransitioning rearwardly relative to the strike face to at leastpartially obscure the lateral periphery from view.
 16. The impactresistant unit of claim 15 wherein the contoured member includes acurved stiffener extending laterally outward of the ballistic insertperiphery.
 17. The impact resistant unit of claim 15 wherein thecontoured member defines a substantially continuous and unbroken outersurface.
 18. The impact resistant unit of claim 15 wherein the lateralperiphery defines a first thickness and the contoured member includes atapered end portion extending laterally outward of the ballistic insertperiphery and transitioning to a second thickness less than the firstthickness.
 19. The impact resistant unit of claim 18 wherein theballistic insert defines a rear face spaced apart from the strike faceand the tapered end portion is curved rearwardly to substantially alignwith the ballistic insert rear face.
 20. The impact resistant unit ofclaim 19 wherein the contoured insert includes an intermediate portiongenerally conforming to the ballistic insert rear face.
 21. An armoredvest comprising: front and back portions, at least one of the front andback portions including a ballistic material capable of impeding thepenetration of a foreign object; and an elastic retention panelextending downwardly from one of the front and back portions to limitingvertical movement of the vest when worn by a user.
 22. The armored vestof claim 21 wherein the elastic retention panel includes a retentionmember to limit vertical movement of the vest while being free fromattachment to a lower garment.
 23. The armored vest of claim 22 whereinthe retention member includes a longitudinal foam element extendinggenerally parallel to a wearer's waist.
 24. The armored vest of claim 22wherein the retention member is generally coextensive with the lowermostportion of the elastic retention panel.
 25. The armored vest of claim 21wherein the elastic retention panel is a first elastic retention panelextending downwardly from the front portion, the armored vest furthercomprising a second elastic retention panel extending downwardly fromthe back portion.